Water In Their Eyes, Dust on Their Land: Heat, Illness and Suffering in a Haitian Town
Pierre Minn
Peter K. New Award Winner, 1998
Rural Haitians experience a great deal of physical suffering as part of their daily lives. Extreme poverty, land degradation and lack of infrastructure have created an environment in which even simple tasks require a great deal of energy. This paper, based on two summers of feildwork in Haiti, is about the illness condition chale (heat) as it is described by the residents of a small coastal town. The illness is thought to be caused by overexposure to heat and exacerbated by physical labor, such as working in fields or carrying water.In addition to describing the ways in which the condition affects single individuals, Haitians also incorporate the larger themes of poverty and environmental damage into their discourses on chale. Their narratives provide a useful way of re-examining current conceptualizations of "folk illnesses" and also show the ways in which environmental conditions can shape illness experiences.
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Mr. Minn's interest in Haiti grew from a research assistantship with the Yale Global Migration project. Subsequently, he spent the summers of 1997 and 1998 in Haiti conducting research on health conditions and beliefs. He has presented the initial results of his work at meetings of the Haitian Studies Association and the Society for Applied Anthropology. Mr. Minn received his BA in anthropology from Yale University in May of 1999, and was awarded a Fulbright Grant to South Korea. He plans to pursue graduate study in medical anthropology and development.
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